Abstract: Apparatus for laser welding a first metal part (1) to a second metal part (2), which apparatus comprises: a laser (3) which emits a laser beam (6) in the form of laser pulses (21), a scanner (4) for moving the laser beam (6) with respect to a metal surface (7) of the first metal part (1), an objective lens (5) which focuses the laser beam (6) onto the metal surface (7), and a controller (12) which controls the scanner (4) such that it moves the laser beam (6) with respect to the metal surface (7) to a plurality of focussed spots (16), characterised in that the apparatus focuses the laser pulses (21) with a spot size (34) and a pulse fluence (36) that causes the formation of a plurality of melt pools (19) in the first metal part (1) and heat stakes (17) in the second metal part (2), each heat stake (17) extends from a different one of the melt pools (19) and has a distal end (101), and the controller (12) spaces the focussed spots (16) apart by a distance (18) that is small enough to cause the melt pools (19)

Abstract: A weld (3) between a first material (1) and a second material (2), the first material (1) being a first metallic material, and the second material (2) being a second metallic material, the weld (3) has a width (4) between 0.5 mm and 7 mm, the weld (3) comprises at least one microweld (8), the microweld (8) forms a welding pattern (5) defined parallel to a surface (6) of the first material (1), and the microweld (8) has a characteristic feature size (7) of between 20 ?m and 400 um.

Abstract: Apparatus for laser welding a first metal part (1) to a second metal part (2), which apparatus comprises: a laser (3) which emits a laser beam (6) in the form of laser pulses (21), a scanner (4) for moving the laser beam (6) with respect to a metal surface (7) of the first metal part (1), an objective lens (5) which focuses the laser beam (6) onto the metal surface (7), and a controller (12) which controls the scanner (4) such that it moves the laser beam (6) with respect to the metal surface (7) to a plurality of focussed spots (16), characterised in that the apparatus focuses the laser pulses (21) with a spot size (34) and a pulse fluence (36) that causes the formation of a plurality of melt pools (19) in the first metal part (1) and heat stakes (17) in the second metal part (2), each heat stake (17) extends from a different one of the melt pools (19) and has a distal end (101), and the controller (12) spaces the focussed spots (16) apart by a distance (18) that is small enough to cause the melt pools (19)